The Lily Maid's Lament
by Jedi Knight Padme
Summary: Elaine, the Lily Maid - a ballad or lay (or something I hope is remotely passable as one) from her point of view as she floats on her death-barge to Avalon...


_This is something I wrote last year, when I was totally into King Arthur (still am!). I've always been fascinated with Elaine, the Lily Maid, and the Lady of Shallot, because their stories are so similar, so in this I combined them both to make a ballad or a lay, or at least something I hope is remotely passable. Please read and review!_

**The Lily Maid's Lament**

I am Elaine

The Lily Maid

Sister of the one who rules Camelot

He that is called King Arthur

I was doomed

For as a child

Merlyn the Wildmage blessed me with a curse

He deemed that I see the future

But only in half

Why is it that he chose me?

For I have seen many things

Cursed things

But alas!

I kept to myself

For I saw only half of the curse

And not the whole

If I revealed my cursed half-knowledge

I would have been killed

But how?

I did not wish to find out

And so I stayed locked in my white tower

Weaving a cloth of rainbow colours

Weaving what I saw in my mirror

I could not look out my window

For I knew that then my end would come

But how?

I dared not find out

And so I stayed locked in my white tower

Grieving over the evil that is yet to come

For I knew that my brother the High King

Would come to much sorrow

Through his beloved queen

The fair Guinevere

But how?

I did not know

And I dared not to tell anyone

And so I stayed locked in my white tower

Fearing the evil that is yet to come

For I saw that the great realm of Logres

Would come soon to its end

But how?

I did not know

And so I stayed locked in my white tower

Weaving a cloth of rainbow colours

Weaving what I saw in my mirror

I could not look out of my window

For I knew that then my end would come

But how?

I was weary of this white tower

And yearned for something more

I no longer cared if this would bring my end

And I decided that I would look out of my window

I tossed my cloth onto my bed

And hurled my mirror onto the floor

I turned toward the window

And then I hesitated

But I straightened up

And set my jaw

And I walked to the window

And looked out

I took a breath of wonder

For I had never seen anything so beautiful

The mirror, like my curse

Had shown me only half of the whole

And as I looked out,

I watched the sun as it began to set

A ball of molten gold it was,

Colouring the sky with crimson and rose and velvet-purple

As it sunk into the sea

Then I looked down,

Admiring the flowers of forgotten gardens

And then I looked down at the rich brown dirt path

Tiny golden buttercups dotting the way

But hark!

For then did I hear a horse's hooves

And the jingle of a horse's bells

And above them both I heard a fair voice

Singing a song of love

As I craned my neck

I saw a horse coming up the path

How fair it was, how strong it was, how rich its fittings were!

But then I saw that upon the horse

Rode someone fairer still

A knight,

Dressed in silver armour

His shield hung from his back

His sword swung at his side

But his helmet had been removed

So that I could gaze upon his face

My heart leapt; my breath escaped me

How handsome he was!

His face so kind and gentle

And yet so strong

His hair and beard

Shone gold in the dying sun

Then I did vow that this knight should I know and wed

But how?

I did not know

To my tower room I returned

And worked a great enchantment

I worked and wove throughout the night

And when the dawn broke fair

My enchantment was complete

A harp of gold sat in my hands

And I began to play as the sun began to rise

The notes fell from the golden harp

As streamers of silver magic

They floated through the air

And found my golden knight

They worked their magic well

And chained him with gentle chains

Then in my tower room

I began to sing

My song fell from my blood-red lips

A song of love

A song of rainbow love

A song of crystal magic

The song fell from my blood-red lips

As streamers of crystal rainbow magic

They floated through the air

And found my golden knight

They worked their magic well

And chained him with gentle chains

Then the power of my love brought him hither

To my white tower room

He came as one in a trance

And indeed in a trance he was

An enchanted trance of love

Caused by my harp and by my song and by my undying love

He came up to my white tower room

And I bound him with gentle chains

Chains of golden harp-notes, of silver song-notes, of crystal rainbow love-notes

In the light of the pale morning crescent moon

In the light of the golden morning sun

We were wed

By my magic arts

We bonded ourselves together

With a ring of gold

With a hushed promise

With enchanted love

A day and a night and a day once more we spent our days together

But alas!

For I was doomed in both love and life

My golden harp-notes

My silver song-notes

My crystal rainbow love-notes

Faded from my husband's mind

And when he awoke on the next morn's dawn

He looked at me with horror

For with my golden harp-notes

With my silver song-notes

With my crystal rainbow love-notes

With all my love-magic gone from his mind,

He no longer knew how he had wedded me

And with a cry of shame and sorrow,

He threw himself from my white tower room's window

I realized then

How I had brought about my end

By looking out my window

How did I not know

That my husband's heart turned only to Queen Guinevere

And that she looked only to my Sir Lancelot?

My heart broke

And as the sun departed from the land

So did my soul depart from the world

But unlike the sun, who would rise again once more

My soul was gone, unable to return

In sorrow did my father lay me on my death barge

And in tears did my sisters kiss me farewell

And my brothers looked down upon me with faces grave

As they lay a lily between my hands

And crowned my raven hair with a circle of silver

And then, in silence

My kin pushed me gently into the stream

To follow the current to Camelot

It has been many a year since King Arthur beheld my dead body

It has been many a year that Lancelot grieved over my death

But still he looked to Queen Guinevere

And even as she mourned for me, she too looked to my unfaithful husband

Now still I float

On the river that took me to Camelot

But now it shall take me to my last resting place

Back to the land in which I was born

To _Ynis Avalonia_

To the Isle of Nimue

To Avalon

But the time has not come

That I can return

So still must I float

On my black death-barge

Dressed in robes of ebony black

A girdle of silver lilies shining round my waist

My raven hair crowned with a circlet of silver with lilies entwined

And a single white lily I clasp in my hands

In this attire I do float

Waiting for the time that I can return

To the land in which I was born

To _Ynis Avalonia_

To the Isle of Nimue

To Avalon

And as I wait, the barge floating gently on the stream

I regret what I did

That has led me to this

Why did I ignore the curse?

Why did I look out of the window?

Why did I weave that doomed enchantment?

Why did I wed the unfaithful knight Sir Lancelot?

Why did I hasten the end of Logres?

I begin my lament

But it is unheard

For my voice is stilled by the hand of Death

I am Elaine

The Lily Maid


End file.
